William Rees-Mogg

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William Rees-Mogg , (Baron Rees-Mogg, of Hinton Blewitt in the County of Avon), British journalist and newspaper editor (born July 14, 1928, Bristol, Eng.—died Dec. 29, 2012, London, Eng.), demonstrated a deep commitment to traditional, conservative values as the editor of The Times for 14 years (1967–81) and as an influential figure in British public life. Some of Rees-Mogg’s best-remembered newspaper commentaries included his denunciation in 1967 of what he considered an unfairly harsh jail sentence (quashed on appeal) issued to the rock musicians Mick Jagger and Keith Richards for a minor drug offense, his unwavering support for U.S. Pres. Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal (1972–74), and his contention that the British government’s ratification of the EU Maastricht Treaty was unconstitutional. (He filed suit on the latter issue but lost in court in 1993 and had to pay huge court costs.) Rees-Mogg attended Charterhouse School in Surrey and then received the Brackenbury scholarship to Balliol College, Oxford, where he was president of the Oxford Union debating society. His academic career was interrupted by his required military service, but he returned to Balliol to complete his degree. His first job was with the Financial Times (1952–60) newspaper, where he was the chief leader (editorial) writer from 1955. He then spent seven years (1960–67) with The Sunday Times. As editor of The Times, he steered that prestigious broadsheet through a difficult period, including an 11-month span in 1978–79 when a dispute with the printers union kept the paper from being published. He tried to prevent The Times from being sold to Rupert Murdoch and resigned soon after the takeover. Thereafter Rees-Mogg wrote books, contributed to newspapers on a freelance basis, and purchased the antiquarian bookseller Pickering and Chatto. Among other official roles, he served as vice-chairman of the BBC governors (1981–86) and as chairman of the Arts Council of Great Britain (1982–89), where he oversaw massive spending cuts and regionalization. Rees-Mogg was knighted in 1981 and granted a life peerage in 1988, after which he served as an active crossbench member of the House of Lords.